| June 08, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 11, 1427 |
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‘Comrade Stalin & sugar...’
Defaulted bank loans
Research must for progress
Budget 2006
HEC policies
Social responsibility
Kashmir problem
Bottleneck
US offer of talks to Iran
Hotels needed in Quetta
‘Islamists’
APROPOS of the letter ‘Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue’, by Gen C.S. Weerasooriya, the high commissioner of Sri Lanka in Pakistan (June 2), one agrees with his observation that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) seem to “have no real interest in the process of negotiations towards a solution, short of a separate state.”
Their extreme approach to the subject is further borne out by the very alarming news regarding the three days’ notice given by a front organisation of the LTTE to the Muslims living in the eastern region of Muttur in Sri Lanka to vacate the place. (Dawn, May 30).
The excuse they have given is that “the Muslims are traitors of the Tamils and we want them to vacate our homeland”. The Tamil Tigers had recently accused an armed jihadist group of targeting the Tamils. There are two problems with this LTTE argument. First, thousands of Muslims were forced out of the Tamil stronghold in the north at gunpoint in 1990 because, being patriotic Sri Lankans, they were not supporting the secessionist movement of the rebels, which must have angered the latter.
Second, the adherents of Islam are, obviously, not engaged in any insurgency in the island nation nor are they involved with foreign militants such as Al Qaeda, therefore, they cannot be labelled as jihadis. What is likely is that if, as alleged by the LTTE, some of them have taken up arms, it must be only to protect themselves from this outfit’s terrorism. Notably, the Tigers are sparing neither the Sinhalese majority, the Muslims nor even their rival faction led by Karuna.
The dark reference to an ‘armed Jihadi group’ is apparently a ploy to win the western powers’ sympathies. It is tragic that Muslims in many parts of the world are being subjected to terrorism but their tormenters are covering up their own crimes by capitalising on the current stereotyping of all the followers of Islam as terrorists.
The other thing is that after the US, now even the EU has rightly designated the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. This has resulted in an immediate retaliation by the Tamil Tigers, who had already threatened to resume their war against Colombo in case the EU made the move. Its cadres stormed into a Sinhala village and killed 13 workers of an irrigation project(Dawn, June 1).
This shows the group’s viciousness making their threat to the Muslims all the more serious that requires urgent measures to prevent the latter’s genocide. Since the Sri Lankan government has not been able to quell the LTTE insurgency and violence and appears rather helpless, some other solution must be found.
It is suggested that both Sri Lanka and the OIC call upon the UN Security Council to deploy a peacekeeping force to protect the Muslims as well as the Sinhalese living in LTTE-controlled areas. If the UNSC is unable or unwilling to respond, the OIC, again with Colombo’s approval, should raise a force drawn from the largest Muslim countries for the purpose.
Instead of indulging in violence, the LTTE should be asked to resolve their dispute in a peaceful and humane way with Norwegian or other mediation.
ABDUL ALEEM
Karachi
THIS has reference to Mr Ayaz Amir’s column ‘Comrade Stalin and the sugar question’ (May 26). With the inclusion of my name and that of my spouse in the list of ‘sugar barons’, Mr Amir has misinterpreted the factual position of the industry and also shown his predisposition against us by the use of a derogatory adjective.
For the sake of clarification and to set the record straight, I wish to submit the following points: (1) Our sugar mill is located in Badin district, situated at the south-eastern tip of the country. The area has suffered multiple disasters in recent years, ranging from the cyclone in 1999, earthquake in 2001, floods in 2003 and acute drought-like situation for the last three years. All these unfortunate incidents have had a detrimental impact on the industry, especially as there has been a sharp decline in the sowing and the yield of sugarcane in the area.
(2) Mirza Sugar Mills is operating without working capital facilities from banks and is continuously pressured and harassed unduly by NAB and tax offices for no other reason than that stated by Mr Amir, that I, Dr Fehmida Mirza, the chief executive of the company, am an opposition member of the National Assembly.
(3) Owing to the above-mentioned natural calamities and man-made difficulties the company is facing severe financial constraints due to which we are forced to dispose of 100 per cent of our production and cannot afford to stock sugar as is alleged. This can be verified against the record maintained by the sales tax department.
(4) Contrary to the argument stated by Mr Amir, I would like to highlight the fact that we had sold sugar to the Trading Corporation of Pakistan in the 2003/04 season at the rate of Rs14 per kg. Their stocks were maintained for two years at the expense of the mills, including godown charges, labour charges, annual replacement of sugar with new production and packaging in new bags.
This was a further burden to the industry as the TCP supplied the said stocks of sugar in the market at rates ranging from Rs26 to 29 per kg, thus earning a grotesque profit without passing on the advantages to the mills or the end consumer.
To summarise, I would like to state that Mr Amir is a credible and well-respected figure in journalistic circles and, therefore, hope that he will avoid making such statements in the future without having first grasped the facts.
I implore him to understand and address the real issues affecting the industry in lower Sindh, one-time the most viable sugar-producing area in the country with the highest rates of sugar recovery, and highlight our unfortunate circumstances of today.
The industry is systematically being eradicated from the area, having catastrophic impact on the local economies, as the sugarcane is the only viable cash crop in the agrarian area.
DR FEHMIDA MIRZA MNA & CEO of Mirza Sugar Mills
THIS has reference to the letter (May 26) that described how the ‘Islamic Investment Bank Ltd, Peshawar,’ collapsed. First, the huge loans drawn by its directors were written off and then there were embezzlements on a large scale.
Due to the bank’s collapse, thousands of pensioners, widows and senior citizens continue to be deprived of their hard-earned savings.
Further, Mr Sultan Ahmed, in his article (May 18) writes that the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly has come up with ghastly accounts of non-performing business loans by the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP) to the private sector, including some noted business families, and the resultant closure of the IDBP with long defaulted loans worth Rs27 billion.
These are stories of the two banks’ collapse due to the loot and plunder of banks by some powerful elements, while the regulatory authorities -– the State Bank of Pakistan and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan or for that matter the ministry of finance — were unaware of the scams prior to the bank’s collapse.
Earlier, there was a press report (Business’ section, Oct 11, 2005) to the effect that Rs82.52 million industrial loans were written off as non-performing loans of eight industries (names appear in the report). Also there are several loan defaulters, some of them in the assemblies, sheltered by political expediency.
As it is understood, a loan is written off when there is no movable/immovable property left and that all legal processes for loan recovery have been exhausted and that the debtor has been declared insolvent — a pauper. But here the situation is quite different.
The defaulters belong to the elite class rolling in luxury. They are above the law and beyond the reach of NAB.
Only superior courts may taken suo motu notice of the situation to stop the rot.
ABDUL SAMAD KHAN
Karachi
The news in Dawn (May 27) that Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, PhD (Cambridge), ScD (Cambridge), Fellow, Kings College, University of Cambridge, Unesco Science Laureate, at present chairman, Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan, and director of International Centre for Chemical Sciences (ICCS), University of Karachi, has been elected a Fellow of Royal Society of London will boost the morale of scientists in Pakistan. Dr Rehman has been elected entirely on the basis of the high quality research carried out with the resources available at Karachi University.
It is also elating that three eminent scientists, namely Prof Abus Salam, Dr Saleemuzzaman Siddiqui and Prof M. Akhtar, also had the honour of getting elected as fellows of the prestigious society of London. But while Dr Rehman worked within Pakistan, the others benefited from the facilities available in universities and laboratories outside Pakistan. Dr Rehman’s remarkable achievement will be a great source of incentive for Pakistani researchers who are making strenuous efforts for research in their respective fields.
It is also hoped that Dr Rehman will promote the study of science and technology by getting the research projects reviewed with same zeal and enthusiasm as is being done for raising the quality of higher education. Quality education and research will help us to meet the challenges, such as energy generation for industry, etc., for increasing agricultural production in order to achieve self-sufficiency in food.
Dr M. JALALUDDIN
Karachi
I AM shocked to see that the government has assigned Rs6.5 billion for education in the new budget, and Rs250 billion has been allocated to defence.
The increase in the budget for defence is Rs25 billion. I would like to remind the president of the old saying: “The pen is mightier then the sword”.
In an age when any nation’s asset is its people, our government continues to allow defence to remain its topmost priority. If even a portion of the money being spent on defence were spent on education, Pakistan would be on par with any developed country in the world. It is time for change and accountability.
FARAS KHAN
Lahore
IN reference to the long list of HEC schemes being carried out in a number of universities, I would like to say that these plans can serve as a springboard to lift up educational standards provided their execution is transparent. No one will oppose the HEC’s efforts to put our universities in the league with other world-class universities. But here we should not overlook the fact that every education system functions within a particular socio-economic and political environment that determines the pace of academic development and interaction between universities and society.
Most of the top universities in the world are located in democratic counties where teaching and research is market-driven. Our country has lived primarily under military regimes that neglected education. In such a situation, improving our universities overnight is like living in a fool’s paradise. Sanity demands we should be patient and adopt gradualist approach. As regards the projects, most of these suffer from transparency and favouritism.
However, assessing the overall impact of the HEC’s catalogue of schemes, we have to quantify their success in terms of their impact on the standard of education. And for that we can apply any yardstick such as number of publications published in the journals of international repute, number of students registered for MPhil/PhD, especially in the departments where the HEC has invested heavily.
Here I shall illustrate an example of computer science department at Shah Abdul Latif University where the HEC has invested about Rs70 million under two projects, namely ‘Strengthening the Department of Computer Science’ and ‘Setting up Internet and Intranet’.
Under these projects, PhD and non-PhD faculties were to be hired and set up state-of-the-art laboratories where students would be produced to serve as pillars of our newly-invented term ‘knowledge-based economy’.
So, under the PhD faculty, a person with PhD in statistics, and that too from Brunel University, Middlesex, UK, which is not even included in Dr Atta-ur-Rehman’s cherished list of top 500 world universities for the year 2005, was appointed instead of PhD in IT or computer science as required under the rules.
As for evaluating the success of the department, no publication has been published in any journal of international repute despite the lapse of five years. No student has been registered for MPhil/PhD in the department under the supervision of any staff member. No contribution was made towards the computerisation of any administrative unit of the university, including library.
In the context of the criterion of PhD for promotions, the HEC has blocked the promotion of many teachers. In this situation the teachers, especially those who have already completed 20 or more years of service, have two options: either to retire in their current position or get quick-fix PhD degrees.
And most of the teachers are opting for the latter options. Therefore, the mass production of copy and paste PhD is under way. Research can only be promoted through motivation, not compulsion.
The HEC should take stock of ground realities, accept that there are problems with its trajectories of reforms and take measure to redress them.
MANZOOR ALI ISRAN
Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur
THE other day I happened to see a sponsored programme, ‘Living on the edge’, on a channel. The concept of the programme was about to dare people on the street to do various stunts.
One that particularly caught my attention, and is the purpose of writing this letter, was pertaining to a girl who was dared to hit a lady standing at a bus stop with her head, which she did.
Had she pulled such a stunt with me, rest assured she wouldn’t have gotten away so easily. I was shocked to see this dare being performed.
I would like to request the sponsor to be more cautious of their selection. Multinationals are high on ‘corporate social responsibility’ and this programme does not exactly fit the bill. Surely you must agree that this shows us the degradation of our value system and where we stand in terms of social behaviour.
My question is: are we promoting irresponsible behaviour among our teens? Let’s please try to maintain the difference between ‘extraordinary’ and ‘violent’ behaviour. The victim at the bus stop did suffer a bad blow.
I don’t know exactly how many people found the segment offensive or even took notice of it, but as a patriotic Pakistani I believe in developing a healthier and progressive Pakistan.
The actions of the girl on the television show is repugnant to civil society.
A PAKISTANI
Via email
KUDOS to Mr Nasir Siddique for writing about the ‘Kashmir problem’ (letter, June 6). He is correct that Pakistan must let go of Azad Kashmir and allow them to resolve their own problems with India.
After all, if Pakistan could lose half of the country in 1971 and still continue to survive, why can’t it let Kashmir go?
Pakistan should proclaim itself a neutral country, disband its armed forces and divert all the funds that have thus far been wasted on defence towards economic and social progress.
TARIQ A. SHAIKH
Houston, USA
SOME five decades back the Drigh Road station, Karachi, was linked to the Dalmia cement factory through a railway line. Ever since the scraping of this factory, this whole line was dismantled except for a small piece just adjacent to the overpass.
A portion of the road gets extremely bottlenecked here due to the traffic flow. This can be averted by utilising available the shoulder and making the road smooth.
RAEES AHMAD KHAN
Karachi
THE American offer of talks is a wise step and there is nothing better than direct diplomacy and face-to-face discussions on controversial issues. But the setting of pre-conditions by the US does not show flexibility and is generally considered insulting to the other party.
The talks are fruitful if conducted without pre-conditions. As far as the suspension of Iran’s nuclear programme is concerned, why do we insist that Iran should respect the international community’s concerns and suspend its enrichment activities? We should listen to what the international community itself has said.
Who is the international community? Does it consist of all the members of the UN — most of whom are also the members of the NAM — or only the five permanent members and Germany?
The 116 NAM states have supported Iran’s nuclear rights in a statement made during a recent conference in Malaysia. So now who is ignoring the international community? This question needs an honest answer.
MEHDI RIZVI
Pickering, Canada
THIS is with reference to the news that a large number of five-star hotels are coming up in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. I want to point out that due to the fast pace of development, a large number of foreign delegates, technicians, Pakistani government officials and others are visiting Balochistan, in general, and Quetta, in particular.
With Gwadar soon becoming operational, many foreign and local transport and business companies will make their offices in Quetta which will add to the number of people visiting the city.
At the moment there is only one four-star hotel here which will not be able to handle the expected visitors. So I want to point out to the government and investors that it would be feasible to construct at least one or two five-star hotels in Quetta.
It would also be a good idea to make an expo centre in Quetta as this city will see a lot of trade activity in near future and become a transition point for trade from Central Asian countries.
JAWAD HAIDER
Quetta
A NEWS headline (June 7) reads ‘Islamists capture Somali capital’. Can someone define the word ‘Islamists’? This word is used by western media to describe people who follow Islam (they call it the ‘radical form of Islam’). It is not used to praise Muslims but the other way round. It is unfortunate that the media is following the same trend.
M. IMAD QURESHI
Indianapolis, USA
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